Browsing by Subject "online"

Concern about global warming can lead to climate change anxiety, a form of anxiety characterized by excessive worry about the climate crisis and associated consequences on the natural world and human society. It has been suggested by previous research that humor can be used to manage feelings of anxiety. This study seeks to determine if this phenomenon can be applied specifically to climate change anxiety. The research combines a comprehensive literature review with an online survey that leveraged climate change themed internet memes as a proxy for humor to gather opinions about the intersections between these two topics. The survey data supplemented claims made by existing literature, indicating that climate change themed internet memes and humor in general can be useful coping mechanisms to mitigate feelings of climate anxiety. The survey was completed by 93 respondents; most of these participants were women, located in the US, and/or between the ages of 20 and 29. Results from the survey showed that people tend to feel best about their environmental anxiety when they are taking active steps to solve the problem. Conscious decisions such as reducing waste or participating in activist movements are easier to recognize and self-report than more passive coping skills. Reliance on humor was reported as a supplementary coping skill, but many respondents indicated that looking at humorous climate change themed memes did influence their feelings about climate change overall. The scope of this study was relatively small in scale, therefore the results presented in this thesis may not be indicative of broader social trends and likely require further research.

Harassment is a growing problem in the digital age society that threatens the well-being of public figures such as journalists and ultimately circumscribes freedom of speech. It has far-reaching implications for the public sphere in a democracy built on transparency and trust. Cyber harassment affects female journalists particularly as they face added threat due to gender. The aim of the thesis is to counter a culture of silence, contribute to lessening fear among journalists, enhancing protocols of media houses, best practices in newsrooms and new structural changes in society. The theoretical framework of this thesis builds on literature about online harassment and female journalists. The main source materials are Pöyhtäri, Hiltunen, Neuvonen, Vehkoo, Löfgren Nilsson, Örnebring, Post, Kepplinger, Chen, Stahel, Schoen, Citron and Ferrier. The research material consisted of seven interviews with Finnish female journalists. All interviewees had encountered harassment in relation to their profession. The research methods that were applied were semi-structured interviews and thematic content analysis. The harassment encountered by the female journalists can be explained by three main themes: The power struggle, the technological takeover and the distrust deluge. An analysis of the interviews showed that the journalists devised coping strategies that could be categorised into five themes, those of: 1.controlling interaction by measures online such as blocking, reporting and transferring, 2. relying on support from professional media houses and peer networks, 3.adapting personal behaviour strategies of psychological reasoning and emotional restraint, 4. resorting to extreme measures involving police and judiciary, and 5. expressing hope for societal changes on a structural level. It is reasonable to say that most coping strategies centred around the principal thought of keeping ones professional and private roles apart. There was consensus of the benefits of speaking out as quickly as possible and not being left alone when harassment starts. Some of the journalists had lost faith in the police and legal system and felt it was no use to report incidents to societal institutions. The journalists preferred not to silence their harassers as without two-way interaction with the audience the journalists could not play their valued part in democracy. Some succumbed to self-censorship. Incessant fact-checking provoked fear of mistakes and ensuing harassment. The employer was seen as key in coping and the journalists, contrary to some previous studies, relied on the support of the employers and reported to them. Peer support was important, as was family although the journalists did not wish to burden them, especially if they had children All the interviewees spoke positively about seeking professional support, including psychiatric support. The Union of Journalist and media houses fund in aid of members that were harassed was lauded